Keep Calm and Expose Liars
by quicksilversquared
Summary: SEASON 3 SPOILERS Calling Lila out in a fit of anger and only in front of one person has done nothing to deter the serial liar, and getting upset won't get Marinette her seat back. However, being upset and direct isn't the only way to call out a liar. As it turns out, a cool head gets a lot more attention.


By the time her class had gone through the lunch line and then promptly crowded around Lila to listen to more of her tall tales, not a disbelieving face in the group, Marinette had had enough. She abandoned her food on the table and headed to the restroom, where she could talk to Tikki freely.

"Her stories are just so ridiculous, I can't believe that no one is questioning _any_ of them!" Marinette ranted to Tikki once she had made sure that the bathroom was empty and she wasn't going to be overheard. For extra safety, she stepped into one of the bathroom stalls, just so that Tikki wouldn't be spotted in case someone came in suddenly. "And _Adrien_ \- he _knows_ that she's a liar! Ladybug called her out right in front of him!"

Tikki was frowning. "That _is_ strange. I can understand wanting to be friendly with new students, but she's certainly in his space enough for him to justify staying away, and it's not as though she's lacking for people who are interested right now."

"He's giving her a second chance, and she hasn't learned a _thing_." Ladybug hadn't gone to Alya to question the authenticity of the video that was _still_ up on the Ladyblog, just to give Lila a chance to put things right on her own. Instead, the other girl had been "out of the country" for _months_ (which Marinette _seriously_ questioned- oddly enough _all_ of the "supposedly" public streets that she was Skyping from were completely and utterly empty and devoid of life, and then Lila had _definitely_ been in town on Heroes Day) and when she came back to school, she just jumped _right_ back into the lies, ramping them up further. Clearly simply being called out in front of one person wouldn't cut it. "And I'm getting _really_ tired of people thinking that all I care about is _Adrien_ when I don't like Lila."

"And it was really rude of them to offer up your seat without asking you!" Tikki chimed in, a fierce frown on her tiny face. Marinette nodded, annoyance mounting.

"I can understand them wanting to give up a seat because she _supposedly_ has a disability- and maybe she does, though she darn well didn't get it from _rescuing Jagged Stone's kitten on a runway_ ," Marinette added disdainfully. "But then they can choose to give up their _own_ seat, not mine- _eek!_ "

An akuma had appeared, flitting through the stall's walls. Marinette dodged out of the way, diving for the door and moving out into the larger part of the bathroom, where there was more space to move. " _Ugh!_ Can't Hawkmoth just let me be annoyed for _once_ without trying to take advantage of it? That's so unfair!"

"Think of happy things!" Tikki suggested, flitting after Marinette. "Uh- think of a plan to prove that your concerns were justified!"

"I'm a _little busy here!_ "

"Can you prove that any of her stories were lies without giving yourself away?" Tikki suggested. "Uh- Jagged Stone, maybe?"

"I- I have his number," Marinette realized, panic starting to ebb away as a plan started to form in her mind. "I can text him and ask about the kitten and the runway and the writing a song for Lila! But that wouldn't prove why I was suspicious before. Uh- are you _sure_ I can't use anything that I would just know because I'm Ladybug?"

Tikki frowned, keeping a close eye on the akuma as it slowed its progress. "Only if you can believably claim that you saw or heard something as yourself. It might take a couple white lies, but that's necessary as Ladybug."

"I _hate_ lies," Marinette muttered, but Tikki had a point. They would be little white lies, designed to keep her secret safe while pointing out why she had never trusted Lila and _no, it wasn't because of Adrien,_ _ **Alya**_. "Well- okay, I live by that park. Maybe I could say that I was nearby, because that's believable. Uh, would it be too much of a stretch to say that I came down to see her because I had heard about her being a new student and was curious?"

Tikki considered it, then nodded. "Well, you _did_ go there to see her, though it wasn't so much to welcome her as to follow the book. Which I told you to do, so close enough."

"Right. And then I saw her throw away the book- which I _did_ see as Marinette, and uh, hung around for long enough to see Ladybug come in. Which is also _technically_ true," Marinette pointed out. "I never left. I just, ah, changed clothes."

"Make sure that when you say it, you don't sound _too_ accusing," Tikki warned her. "Don't do it like when you were Ladybug. Calm, collected, lay out the facts. And I would do it from _your_ seat," she added. "Point out that that was rude to kick you out, and then add that you weren't exactly going to take a serial liar's words at face value."

"No raised voice, no accusations, just the fact." Marinette nodded, sharp, then glanced over to the akuma. It was fluttering away, no longer interested in her. "Uh, should I transform and catch that?"

Tikki glanced between the two of them. "That depends. How do you feel?"

Marinette took a moment to check, letting out a deep breath like Master Fu had taught her. "Calm, now that I have a plan. Centered. Not worried. I don't want to fight an akuma, not now, but I don't feel in any danger of being akumatized."

Smiling, Tikki floated over to Marinette. "Then you know the magic words!"

One purified akuma and one de-transformation later, Marinette exited the bathroom and headed back to her food. Everyone was still crowded around Lila, and Marinette just rolled her eyes and went back to her food after shooting a few quick texts off to Jagged Stone.

"Do you want to write down your plan?" Tikki suggested, sticking her head out of Marinette's purse. "And what you want to say? So that you don't get carried away or get distracted by accusations or Lila turning on the tears?"

"Oh, that's a good idea," Marinette said at once, pulling her notebook out of her bag. "I'll _just_ address the things that I have evidence for, of course. Maybe start with the thing you brought up, Tikki, because _that_ was just flat-out rude."

Ten minutes before lunch period ended, Marinette had her answer from Jagged Stone and had packed up her things. She headed up to the classroom by herself- _all_ of her classmates were busy listening to Lila tell some story about patisserie-making and Marinette rolled her eyes as she passed- and settled in _her_ seat _._

Not that she exactly _wanted_ to sit next to Alya right now, considering that her so-called best friend had apparently seen nothing wrong with kicking Marinette out of her seat, but that was the best way to get the conversation started.

Two minutes before the start of class, the entire class filed in, followed by Miss Bustier. They started sitting down... then paused when they spotted Marinette.

"Marinette, I thought we decided this morning that you were going to be sitting in a different spot," Miss Bustier prompted gently, pointing towards the back of the classroom. Marinette raised her chin, defiant, but making sure to stay calm and centered, just like she had been taught.

"There was no _we_. People decided, _without_ me, that they were going to be kicking me out of my seat without even _asking_ if that was okay. And _I_ decided that that wasn't okay." Keeping her gaze steady, Marinette was pleased to see Miss Bustier look abashed. "So if someone wants to give up their seat to accommodate a _supposed_ disability, they're free to do so. But they _won't_ be kicking me out of my spot in the process."

 _That_ got a frown back on Miss Bustier's faces. " _Supposed?_ Marinette, it's not kind to assume that someone is lying."

"Maybe not, but _excuse_ me if I don't immediately fall over to believe a serial liar." Marinette cut her gaze to Lila, who was looking smug. She held her gaze, and Lila actually faltered for a moment. "Perhaps she _does_ have hearing issues. It's not up to me to decide. But she _is_ lying about getting hearing issues from saving Jagged Stone's kitten." Marinette looked back at Miss Bustier and held up her phone, unlocked and opened to her texts. "Since I've been in contact with Jagged Stone ever since doing his album cover*, I decided that it might be prudent to ask him about that incident and the song he supposedly wrote for her. He said that he's never had a kitten- he likes them well enough, but they wouldn't get along with Fang- and he's never even _met_ Lila."

Miss Bustier took the phone and scanned the text messages. Just as Marinette suspected that she might, she scrolled up as well, clearly looking at the previous conversation to make sure that it was actually Jagged Stone that Marinette was texting and not a poser. She glanced at Lila, clearly less certain about the hearing claim now. "I see. Lila, it's not nice to lie about such things."

Lila spluttered. "I didn't _lie!_ It's just- he has, uh, short term memory loss-!"

"So he remembered enough to write a song but not remember either the song or you?" Kim asked dryly from the back of the room. His arms were folded, and he sounded less than impressed. "Yeah right."

"Can we step outside for a moment, Marinette? I have some other questions," There was a hardness in Miss Bustier's eyes that suggested that she had maybe started suspecting what other things Lila had lied about- namely, the extended absences. She glanced around at the class, who was hanging on every word. "Everyone, sit down in your normal spots. Lila, wait by my desk," she added when Lila made to sit down in Nino's spot. "If everyone could do some quiet reading, please. I'll be back soon."

Marinette scooped up her notebook and followed Miss Bustier out of the classroom, ignoring the glare that Lila was sending her way. As she rounded the front desks, she spotted Adrien trotting back down the steps between the desks, as if he had initially headed to the back rather than his seat in the front.

 _Huh_. Had he been planning on joining her in the back? Marinette's thoughts latched on to the thought, and she shook them off. She couldn't think about that right now, when she needed to focus on presenting her case to Miss Bustier.

As Marinette left the classroom, she could feel her classmates staring. The door hadn't even closed before the whispers started up.

"So you said _serial_ liar, Marinette," Miss Bustier started, pulling out a notepad and a pencil. "Clearly you suspected something _before_ you texted Jagged Stone. Can you fill me in?"

So Marinette did. She started from the top, with her spotting Lila in the park and heading down to investigate because she hadn't met the new girl yet. She mentioned Lila throwing Adrien's book in the trash, including the fact that she had taken _all_ the blame for taking it from Adrien when returning it to Mr. Agreste, so that Lila wouldn't have him coming after her, and then seeing Ladybug lose her temper when calling Lila out for lying on the Ladyblog. Marinette pointed out that Volpina had _clearly_ been Lila- Adrien should be able to back her up on that- and that Volpina (or at least her powers) had clearly been at work on Heroes Day, so there was no _way_ that Lila had been abroad. When Miss Bustier had clearly been about to point out that that wasn't exactly rock-solid evidence, so before she could, Marinette pointed out that the "city streets" that Lila had been supposedly been Skyping from had been utterly empty, with no pedestrians passing by.

"I _did_ wonder about that, briefly," Miss Bustier commented, frowning. "I couldn't figure out how she was getting good enough Internet out on the streets to do that and keep a signal with no lags." She sighed, running a hand over her hair. "The other lying, I would just pull her aside and talk to her. But it sounds like you're right, and she was skipping out on class. That can't be ignored, and will be thoroughly investigated, as will the hearing claim." She smiled at Marinette and patted her shoulder. "Thank you for having the bravery to come forward with this. It couldn't have been easy with all of your classmates believing what she said."

Marinette just bit her lip to try not to smile as a warm feeling flooded her body for the first time that day. Miss Bustier _believed_ her, which meant that this time, Lila would actually face some well-deserved consequences for her actions.

And she hadn't lost her temper or gotten upset at all during the whole exchange.

Miss Bustier ushered Marinette back inside the classroom and Marinette headed for her seat right away. The not-so-subtle whispers stopped as soon as they noticed their teacher, and faces frantically turned back to books.

Neither Kim nor Nino had noticed that their books were upside-down, apparently. From the looks of Miss Buster's raised eyebrows, it seemed that she had _._

As Marinette settled down in her seat, she noticed Miss. Bustier tap Adrien and pull him out into the hall next. It only took Marinette a second to realize that Miss. Bustier probably wanted to check on some of the details of her story so that she would have a stronger case to call Lila's oh-so-busy parents in the middle of the day. The rest of the class were clearly as confused as Adrien, because the whispers broke out twofold. Rather than join, Marinette pulled out her books and started reading like Miss Bustier had told them to.

No one bothered her. Marinette wondered if they were all still feeling bad about having booted her out of her seat without asking, because if so? _Good_.

Lila was still stewing by the desk, and Marinette kept one eye out for akumas. A glance at Tikki assured her that there weren't any yet, and Marinette wondered why. Maybe it was because Lila's akuma form operated on illusions and people not _expecting_ those illusions, so she wouldn't just get akumatized in front of the class.

Adrien came back in and this time it was Lila who was pulled out after Miss Bustier had handed out worksheets to Chloe and Nino to pass around. Marinette could feel the glare burning through her book.

...well, she wasn't going to be spending the time after school anywhere _expected_ , that was for sure. She'd let her parents know that she would be out, but until Lila had been akumatized and taken care of, Marinette was going to keep a sharp eye out.

She wouldn't go to Master Fu's, since she wouldn't want to lead any akumas there. But there were always tourist spots around, ones with lots of people who would sound the alarm on something strange and that had akuma alarms that would tip her off to any strange activity in the city.

"What did Miss Bustier want to talk to you about?" Nino hissed as Adrien got settled. He had slid over to Adrien's side. "Like, what-"

Marinette caught the movement of blond hair as Adrien glanced back at her, but she kept her attention on her book. The two of them started whispering, but Marinette had work to do, thanks, and so she started work on the worksheet.

She had an inkling that she might be the only person in the room to actually be working on it.

By the time Miss Bustier returned to class, Adrien and Nino's whispering had moved on to Nino and Alya whispering, and then Alya whispering with whoever was behind her.

"I'm going to have to step out again, but I wanted to check in on you," Miss Bustier informed the class. She glanced around at the upside-down books and books turned to the wrong pages and sighed. "And I _will_ be collecting those worksheets at the end of class. Even if they aren't finished."

There was a quick scuffle of papers as everyone frantically tried to flip to the right page and look like they were writing things down.

The worksheet wasn't hard. but it _was_ long. Marinette suspected that it had probably been meant to be homework, but Miss Bustier needed some way of making sure that they stayed focused.

The whispers were much more subdues and infrequent for the second part of class. Mr. Haprèle stepped in shortly after Miss Bustier left, which probably helped. He watched as they worked, and only left when Miss Bustier came back in, looking rather exhausted.

"Please turn your worksheets in as you finish them," Miss Bustier told them. "And all of them have to be in by the end of the class period."

Marinette finished up one last question and trotted down the stairs to turn it in before starting in on the homework that she had gotten assigned in her other classes. By the end of class, only she, Sabrina, and Chloe had completely finished their worksheets. No doubt Sabrina had been too worried about upsetting Chloe to gossip, and Chloe had just copied things over onto her paper.

The rest of the day was quiet but restless. Apparently the teachers had talked between classes, because Madam Mendeleiev didn't comment on Lila's absence when they all filed into her classroom. By the time school was over, Marinette was eager to leave.

Adrien caught her on the way out.

"I just wanted to say thank you for saving my father's book," he told her seriously, one hand resting lightly on her arm. "I shouldn't have borrowed it from him in the first place, but I don't know what would have happened if it had ended up in the landfill. I can tell him what _really_ happened, that Lila stole it and you saved it."

"It might be strange to bring it up now," Marinette pointed out as the rest of their classmates headed out around them. "It's been months. And it's just my word against hers."

Adrien just smiled. "I'm sure I can find a way to work it in naturally, particularly if Nathalie asks me about how my day went. And I _do_ remember that day. I definitely had the book after I last saw you, but it vanished after I saw Lila. And it explains how she knew what the Fox Miraculous looked like." His smile turned wiry. "I know my father likes you, but he _does_ hold grudges about stuff like that."

Marinette could only nod. Gabriel Agreste had seemed stern when she returned the book, but not necessarily _angry_. Then when she saw him last, he seemed perfectly friendly. But Adrien was the expert on his own father, so if he said that Mr. Agreste would still hold grudges, then she would believe him.

"And I'm sorry for not mentioning that Ladybug had already called Lila out for lying earlier and so she might not be the most trustworthy person in the world," Adrien added, his serious tone making Marinette look back up at him. "I wanted to give her a second chance at school since she's been, ah 'gone' for so long, but she really scuttled that chance, didn't she?"

Marinette nodded at that, unable to stay irritated at Adrien for any longer when he had that earnest look on his face. Sure, she was annoyed with the class for giving away her seat earlier, but Adrien had behaved perhaps the best. He at least had offered to give her his seat and move to the back in her place, and he had been the only person from her class so far to actually approach her. _And_ it had looked like he had been going to the back to join her in her "new" seat, even before she called Lila out. "It's impressive how she can get people to believe her, but she doesn't hesitate at all when she lies and then turns on the crocodile tears when someone challenges her."

Adrien looked puzzled by the expression. "Crocodile tears?"

"Fake tears to make people feel sorry for her," Marinette clarified. "She turns them on right when someone is going to make a point, to distract other people. I'm surprised that she didn't today, but I'm guessing that she was overconfident in her lies and didn't expect for me to actually be able to disprove them." She glanced behind her, then back at Adrien. "And I wouldn't be surprised if she gets akumatized again. I'm not going to go anywhere where she can sneak up on me until she's been deakumatized."

"That's smart," Adrien agreed. "Between the whole school finding out about her lies, the detentions, and being grounded, she's _prime_ material for being akumatized." His hand squeezed her arm. "Stay safe, Mari. Promise me. I would hang out because two pairs of eyes are better than one, but I have piano lessons right away today. Unless you want to come listen?" Adrien suggested, suddenly perking up. "My teacher has me learning some Jagged Stone piano covers. I haven't got them down quite yet, since it's a different style than I'm used to, but I'm getting there."

Marinette worried her lip. If it had been any other day, she would have said _yes_ without hesitation. But between the fact that she needed to be able to get away quickly without anyone noticing if there was an akuma and also wanting to have a bit of breathing room where she could talk to Tikki about what had happened and what she should do going forward, Marinette didn't think that it was a good idea. "I think I'll pass for today. I'd love to hear the songs, but I don't want to lure Lila to your house. I'll go to the Louvre or something, where they have akuma alert announcements and _plenty_ of crowds to hide in."

"Oh, that's smart," Adrien said immediately, nodding. "I'll just practice extra-hard to master the songs today, then, so I can actually play them right for when you come over."

Marinette smiled at that. "I'm looking forward to it. Then she frowned. "Uh, what did you say about detentions and grounding?"

"That's what I heard on the grapevine. Apparently Lila's parents came to school for a meeting with the principal and they aren't exactly quiet." Adrien's lips quirked up at one edge. "Hopefully she'll learn, now that there were actually consequences. I can understand wanting to fit in at school, but she's charismatic enough that she would have made friends easily without the lies."

Marinette winced. If the whole school had heard about the lying, then Lila would probably end up ostracized. If _that_ happened, then she foresaw a _lot_ of Lila-akumatizations in the future. "She _could_ have, but I doubt that anyone in our class will be that interested in hanging out with her now. Another class, _maybe_..."

"She'll still probably be in our class, I think. The other class has more people in it, so she can't exactly switch." Adrien reached over and squeezed Marinette's hand. "So if we _do_ end up adjusting the seating chart to keep her from being way back and Nino wants to sit next to Alya again, would you like to share a bench? I'm not exactly interested in having Lila climb all over me again."

Marinette gave it some thought. Maybe she had just been worried that morning about sitting next to Adrien distracting her, but she could probably handle it now. Even after Adrien's apology and reaching out, Marinette had an inkling that she probably wouldn't be in any sort of _dating_ mood for a while. That would require trust, and, well, hers had been rather shaken. Still, everyone made mistakes, and Adrien was actually making an effort to fix things again. So Marinette smiled at Adrien and replied.

"I'd like that."

* * *

(To the surprise of absolutely no one, Lila ended up akumatized before Marinette could even make it to the Louvre. She got defeated within ten minutes by Ladybug and Chat Noir and if both superheroes maybe got in a few more punches to the akuma's face than normal, well...

Paris could just chalk it up to them being particularly _done_ with dealing with Volpina.)

* * *

 _A/N: As with most of my stories, this is a one-shot and is therefore complete._

 _I kind of envision the rest of the class feeling a little too awkward about Marinette calling them out on the forced seat change and for falling for Lila's (in hindsight, really ridiculous) lies to approach her right away, but they do end up coming forward to apologize for not speaking up for her/volunteering her seat the next day._

 _As for Lila, well... middle- and high-schoolers aren't exactly known for giving a million chances and being super-forgiving about being tricked and manipulated, so no happy ending for her._

 _As always, I love hearing what people think! Reviews always make my day._

*I would like to make it clear that Marinette is open with her parents about the occasional texts Jagged and Marinette exchange and that her parents _do_ look at all of the texts exchanges because they're responsible and are making sure that it stays a cool uncle/niece sort of exchange rather than a creepy-ass situation like with Millie Bobby Brown and Drake.


End file.
